Wolverhampton Wobbleyous v Arsenal with the wobbles.

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by Bulldog Drummond

Making Arsenal play again so soon after the Palace match seems a little unfair, but that is how the games come out and so that is the game we must play no matter how much we were wobbling in the game against the almighty Crystal Palace at the weekend.

We know our home record took a bit of a battering at the weekend but here it is the away record that is of concern

Away games only

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

1

Liverpool

18

12

5

1

31

10

21

41

2

Manchester City

16

11

2

3

31

10

21

35

3

Tottenham Hotspur

18

11

0

7

33

22

11

33

4

Manchester United

18

9

2

7

31

28

3

29

5

Chelsea

17

9

1

7

23

26

-3

28

6

Crystal Palace

18

8

2

8

29

28

1

26

7

Leicester City

18

7

4

7

27

27

0

25

8

Watford

18

6

5

7

26

28

-2

23

9

Arsenal

16

6

4

6

27

28

-1

22

So we now have a middle-of-the-road away record, having won as many as we have lost, and within one goal, scored as many as we have conceded.

In terms of home form Wolverhampton are also mid-table, but with more wins than defeats, and slightly fewer goals scored than conceded.

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

F

A

GD

Pts

7

Everton

18

9

4

5

28

21

7

31

8

Wolverhampton Wanderers

17

8

4

5

24

20

4

28

9

West Ham United

18

8

4

6

29

27

2

28

10

AFC Bournemouth

18

7

5

6

29

25

4

26

11

Watford

16

8

2

6

23

21

2

26

If we want to find something to clutch at then it is the mid-range scoring ability of Wolverhampton that might give us a little encouragement.

And if we wanted a little more to grab hold of, the failure of Wolverhampton to get the better of Watford and thus reach the cup final, might be playing on their minds. Defeated semi-finalists can have very moderate runs after losing out.

But we really do need to be winning this match, to compensate for the defeat against Palace. So taking a look at Wolverhampton’s last five games we find…

Date

Game

Res

Score

Competition

30 Mar 2019

Burnley v Wolverhampton W

L

2-0

Premier League

02 Apr 2019

Wolverhampton W v Manchester Utd

W

2-1

Premier League

07 Apr 2019

Watford v Wolverhampton W

L

3-2

FA Cup

13 Apr 2019

Southampton v Wolverhampton W

L

3-1

Premier League

20 Apr 2019

Wolverhampton W v Brighton and H

D

0-0

Premier League

Three defeats in the last five, and just one draw in the last three. Scored five, conceded nine. Arsenal’s last five give us six goals scored, four goals conceded.

07 Apr 2019

Everton v Arsenal

L

1-0

Premier League

11 Apr 2019

Arsenal v Napoli

W

2-0

Europa League

15 Apr 2019

Watford v Arsenal

W

0-1

Premier League

18 Apr 2019

Napoli v Arsenal

W

0-1

Europa League

21 Apr 2019

Arsenal v Crystal Palace

L

2-3

Premier League

All of which suggests that avoiding the pratfalls that happened against Palace could see us through.

But there is a problem. Because with Palace we noted how rarely they beat us and how long it was since they beat us, and then they go and … well, beat us. And here we find the same with Wolverhampton

Date

Game

Res

Score

Competition

16 May 1980

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-2

Division One

06 Dec 1980

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

D

1-1

Division One

25 Apr 1981

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-2

Division One

02 Feb 1982

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

2-1

Division One

03 Apr 1982

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

D

1-1

Division One

29 Aug 1983

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-2

Division One

24 Mar 1984

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

4-1

Division One

05 Apr 1998

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

1-0

FA Cup

24 Jan 1999

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-2

FA Cup

02 Dec 2003

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

5-1

League Cup

26 Dec 2003

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

3-0

Premier League

07 Feb 2004

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-3

Premier League

29 Jan 2005

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

2-0

FA Cup

07 Nov 2009

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

1-4

Premier League

03 Apr 2010

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

1-0

Premier League

10 Nov 2010

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

0-2

Premier League

12 Feb 2011

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

W

2-0

Premier League

27 Dec 2011

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

D

1-1

Premier League

11 Apr 2012

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Arsenal

W

0-3

Premier League

11 Nov 2018

Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wanderers

D

1-1

Premier League

20 games and not a Wolverhampton win in sight. And a look at their trophy cabinet across the last 30 or so years shows us just why so many matches have been missed out…

Competition

Achievement

Season

Football League Trophy

Winner

1987-88

League Division Four

Champion

1987-88

League Division Three

Champion

1988-89

League Championship

Champion

2008-09

League One

Champion

2013-14

League Championship

Champion

2017-18

Yes six trophies including winning the fourth division, the third division (twice), and the second division (twice).

But they held us to a draw earlier in the season, and we do need to pick up some points if we are going to make the “not a trophy” position of fourth.

Sportsmole give the team prediction as

Leno

Sokratis Koscielny Monreal

Maitland Niles Kolasinac

Xhaka Torreira

Mkhitaryan Iwobi

Aubameyang

If we were to lose it would be the first back-to-back league defeats the opening two fixtures of the season. And we don’t want that do we?

5 comments to Wolverhampton Wobbleyous v Arsenal with the wobbles.

It’s worth noting that Arsenal have 3rd best attack in the league and 6th best defence. The only issue is, one of those five teams that have better defensive record than ours are Wolves.

Wolves have been on my black list for the simple reason they have assembled a superb squad for the club of their stature thanks to close connections with Jorge Mendes.

A draw tonight wouldn’t be a bad result given that we have a superior goal-difference to Chelsea and they are yet to play against Man United away. Of course, that means we would have to get at least seven points from the remaining three games.

I fear that St Totteringham’s Day will wait for at least one more season though.

Crunch time this season for the manager. How to deal with the pressure of the fight for the fourth place (not a trophy.)?

Mr Wenger was a magician who kept pulling rabbits out of the hat until the audience got bored. Now the audience are stuck with a manager who has never had to deal with the intensity of the end-of-season battle for place that gives you something even when it is not a trophy.

To win something that does not exist as a trophy, that cannot be held in the arms like a trophy? How to motivate players? How to pick a team with the same chance of wining the game as the teams he picks for the European Thursday night?

My thought the other week was that Wolves would implode after their FA Cup loss. I’m still sticking to that.

A shit show sandwich perfectly prepared for the patrons who were bored with twenty years of European football, their taste buds so riddled with entitlement they believed winning the Premiership was the only trophy that mattered, and they had paid for it.

How many years will it take Mr Emery to learn how to deal with the end of season run in?